Sprout Magazine

Old Video Game Reviews: Goblin Commander: Unleash The Horde

Goblin Commander: Unleash The Horde was released in 2003 for Playstation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube. It is an RTS game with a few action elements thrown into it as well. In the game, you operate as the protagonist Grommel, one of the leaders of the five goblin clans created by their master Fraziel. In the beginning of the game Fraziel is betrayed and killed and it is up to Grommel to find out who did it.

In the game, you will have a house for each clan currently under your control, up to a maximum of three. There are a total of five clans in the game, and each one is strong against another clan and weak to another. (The arrows will indicate a strength over the clan they point to Stonecrusher→ Hellfire→ Nighthorde→ Plaguespitter→ Stormbringer→ Stonecrusher) Each clan house allows you to recruit from the five units and available to that clan, as well as purchase the three upgrades available to them. The other building you will have access to is the Hall of Titans which will allow you to build the turret available to each clan you control (up to a maximum of three turrets may be built) as well as the extremely powerful titans, of which one is available to each clan. These massive units are where the action component comes into the game. You can take direct control of these beasts to do massive damage to the opposition.

Mostly however, the game is a standard RTS. There are two resources for you to collect, souls and gold. Souls come from soul fountains mainly, which as long as you control them will supply you with a steady stream of souls that you can use to recruit more goblin warriors. Over time these soul fountains will provide you with less and less souls so be careful. Gold is a finite resource. At the beginning of the game there is only so much much of it on the map in the form of objects that you break in order to get gold. Gold is used to buy upgrades, turrets, and unlock units, though this differs for each clan. Gold is also used to repair and rebuild your structures. That is why gold is important. You won’t lose the game until all of your structures have been destroyed, you don’t have the gold to repair them, and you don’t have any goblins.

This game is simple and it lacks any real building depth. However, it doesn’t have frustrating worker management and combat is streamlined, balanced for the most part, and fun. There is something to be said about the scale of the game though. Each clan can only recruit ten units at a time, so the largest battle you will ever be able to have is 3 turrets, 30 goblins, and a titan against a force of equal size.

Despite it’s shortcomings, a small troop limit, only five different troops per clan, and no real building options, this game can be a lot of fun. The campaign is well made and will challenge you and it has a skirmish mode where you can play against your friends. This is a pretty fun RTS that is a bit different from many of the other ones I’ve played and I would definitely recommend checking it out.